The Past Never Dies
by IsabellaUnleashed
Summary: Ever wonder how Luke, Nick, Pete, Carlos, Sarah, Alvin, and Rebecca reacted to the apocalypse? What about how they all ended up in Carver's camp? Or how they escaped and how they found the cabin in the woods? This story will alternate each chapter from all of their POVs, starting from the very beginning to the moment they find the cabin. Posting every Saturday, suggestions welcome.
1. Luke, Nick, and Pete - Part 1: Before

Nick's father died when he was 10.

He didn't feel regretful, or remorseful, or even sad over it. Actually, he felt slightly relieved. The horrible ways his father treated him were responsible for those feelings. He did have to act like he cared at the funeral, but only for his mother's sake. She was torn up and crying all the time over his father, even if he was... _quite_ rude to her in the last years as well. If she had found that Nick wasn't sad in the slightest... Nick didn't want to imagine how sad she would get.

It was very lucky he had his best friend, Luke, to talk to about the whole mess. Luke and Nick had been best friends since kindergarten. When this event happened in Nick's life, their friendship evolved. Rather than just being kids and playing together, Nick discovered he could talk to Luke, and Luke would listen. Ironically enough, this was the event that kept them being friends as adults.

One thing that was a recurring topic in Nick's confessions to Luke was his Uncle Pete. The man had come to take care of Nick shortly after his dad passed. He was unsure of what to think; his mother didn't care much for him anymore through her grief, but he didn't want another father figure to screw with the newfound peace of not having one. It was this grudge that kept Nick from appreciating all that Uncle Pete did then.

From cooking to cleaning to hunting to farming, Uncle Pete did it all. Yes, Nick's family were farmers; they lived on a large wheat plantation. The same went for Luke's family, whose plantation wasn't too far away. But even though Pete didn't live on a farm now, he did as a child, and recalled all the tricks he needed to get things done fast. He was leading the house away from collapse, but Nick hated it. He found every little thing he did wrong and reported it to Luke, and sometimes twisted the things he did out of proportion.

Once, before they went with the other children in the city to jump rooftops like the boys they were, Nick told a riveting story quite embellished from his imagination.

"Uncle Pete went an' done it again! He went fishin' 'n' when he get back home, he aint' got nothin' on him. Said he ate it all 'cause he got hungry. Well, now I'm hungry, Luke." What had really happened the night before, was that Pete brought home fish, but decided to freeze it for the winter. Instead, they ate a stew that Nick didn't like, and therefore didn't eat as much. Laying awake in bed after an unsatisfying dinner got his imagination rolling.

These stories were the sort of thing Nick thought up and Luke heard, so Luke could only assume Pete was the nastiest and most foul man on the planet. When Nick brought him over so they could work on a school project, he was a little nervous to meet him. But when he did, he was very kind and made sure both of them were comfortable and had what they needed to work. Actually, Pete was ecstatic to see Nick with a friend over. It hadn't happened in a long time, and not since Pete moved in. Pete offered to help with the project when they had trouble, but Nick denied the offers. Luke wasn't against the help, but wasn't going to stir up something with Nick right there in the house.

When they left to get Luke home, Luke started to talk about how he wasn't so bad.

"Really, Nick, that didn't seem like the same person you been talkin' about."

"Oh, it was. He was just acting for ya."

"Mmhmm... okay." Luke let Nick have his fun with his stories of Uncle Pete, but every time he came over, he was nice, and Luke knew the truth.

Nick knew the truth about Luke's family as well. Luke didn't like to talk about his family to Nick, thinking that Nick would feel like he got the bad life. He was right to do this, but Nick thought that anyway. When they went over to his house, there was always cookies and milk for them. Luke was received by a warm hug and kiss by his mother, and warm welcomes from his dad and sister. Nick was always said hello to with love as well; Nick was almost family to them.

But each welcome reminded Nick of what he didn't have at home. Each cookie dipped in milk made him think of the luxuries he missed out on. Nick wanted to have a perfect family like Luke. On certain days he would want it so bad, he would be spitting fire like the hormonal teen he was growing up to be. On those days he would stay away from Luke. He knew he would blow up on his friend and for a stupid reason, and didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Luke got suspicious about this, but usually something triggered the behavior that he made ties to; his father doing something especially nice the previous day. He didn't want to ruin the friendship either, and let Nick have his tantrum. "You gotta let it out somehow, right?" he always had thought.

Other than these rare times, the two never really had fights. There was one time when they had a brief argument over Penny MacGerin. Oh, Penny was a soft spot in their hearts they would always remember fondly and laugh about together. The cutest girl in 7th grade, nearly every boy had their eye on her. Luke was aware of her good looks, but didn't pay them too much attention. Luke had nearly all the girls to choose from anyway; he was quite the looker and the ladies' man.

Nick, on the other hand, was head over heels for her. He talked about her all the time. "Penny answered a question right today in science." "Penny glanced at me in the halls!" "Penny was late to math; I wonder why?" Luke was a little annoyed, but Penny didn't stop them from being friends, so why be rude about it?

All was good and well until the fall dance started to come near. The fall dance had the tradition of the girls asking the guys to the dance. And who was the first brave soul to ask Luke to the dance? None other than Penny MacGerin. Luke, thinking about how Nick would be crushed, said he would "think about it." When they talked about it later that day, Nick got upset like Luke thought he would. He thrashed around and argued about how Luke would steal her away. Luke yelled about how it wasn't his fault and he hadn't said yes yet. They went on until Nick had a realization.

He appeared thoughtful and said, "This... this is my ticket in! You take her to the dance, I'll take another girl. We go together, we get Penny to like me at the dance, we trade partners, and WALA! everyone is happy."

Luke was doubtful. Luke didn't know what girl Nick would end up getting, or if Penny would even end up liking Nick, or if Nick would get a date. But he agreed; how could he say no to his best friend? So at the end of the day, he agreed to go to the dance with Penny. They said they would meet at the party. Nick was also happy to report that he got a date as well; Stella Parnickle. Stella wasn't exactly a popular girl, and wasn't the prettiest, but Luke wasn't that concerned. It wasn't like they would date or anything!

Luke and Nick got dressed up their best, in matching black suits. Luke had a red tie and Nick had a blue bow tie. When they got to the party, Nick took a deep breath. After a quick pep talk from Luke, he braced himself and went inside to find Penny and Stella. It was a good thing he braced himself; Penny was there in the corner kissing Derek Flannery. Derek - the bad boy of the school.

Nick looked shocked at the two in the corner. Luke rolled his eyes and went over to tap Penny on the shoulder. She looked up at Luke for only a second, saying, "I'm going with Derek now." And continued her endeavor.

Luke came back over, shrugging, and told Nick what happened. They looked at each other blankly for a few minutes... then burst into laughter. They laughed so hard they cried, clutching their stomachs and bellowing laughter. They made this huge plan for Penny when they really just needed to enjoy the night. And they did!

Stella showed up, and they were dancing with her a bit. Fate would have it that Luke and Stella hit it off, and she would be one of the girls Luke dated in high school. It didn't last long, like the other smitten girls he dated. Jen, Flora, Macy, Stella, Hannah, and more; Luke was still very handsome and dated a lot of the ladies.

Nick, on the other hand, had one serious girlfriend for 2 years of high school; her name was Missy. Nick liked everything about her. With pale, "flawless" skin, long, "shiny, gorgeous" black hair, and bright, "light-catching, beautiful" eyes, Nick was 'in love' with her for a long time. They dated sophomore and junior years, while Luke coasted along, trying to find a long-lasting date. Luke couldn't seem to find that one special girl, and was a little jealous of Nick for finding 'the one.'

That was, until Missy broke it off in senior year. Nick was in pieces that Luke helped to pick up and put back together. Luke was obviously no longer jealous, but instead felt guilty that he ever felt jealous in the first place. If this was what love ended in, did he ever want that?

They graduated high school, with Luke feeling ambitious. He had taken an art class in senior year and suddenly found that he liked looking at art from the past. It sort of opened up a new world for him. So, he went to college majoring in Art History. Now, if there was one thing that was imperfect in Luke's family, it was that his father wanted him to carry on the family farm. That pathway for his career wasn't looking very good to him; it wasn't what he wanted in life. But to satisfy his father, he minored in agriculture.

Those four years of college were odd for him. He went to those classes, he got good grades, he graduated with his degree, but it wasn't what he expected. What was he to do with this art history degree anymore? He found he had rode that art wave out and he wasn't too interested anymore.

Luckily, the college wasn't far and he still was able to be friends with Nick, who stayed in his town being a farmer with Pete. Nick wasn't too ambitious and didn't really have an idea for what he wanted in the future. That's why, when Luke got his big idea, Nick was the first one he came to.

Luke had a passion, suddenly, to start a business. His parents had had trouble getting work done on the fields sometimes, and this new farming tool he had made would make it better.

"It will revolutionize farming around the world, Nick! Don't you see that?" He convinced Nick that his tool would change the face of agriculture.

Really, it wasn't anything special. Luke thought he would be able to be a businessman and please his father at the same time, so why couldn't it work? Nick just thought it would be fun to try and start up having a business. So on they went, spending all their money trying to get Luke's idea out there. They even borrowed money from the surprisingly supportive Uncle Pete, and sometimes Luke's parents.

But soon that cash was just funneled into the same place, and it was gone before they knew it. But who cared? They were having the time of their lives, "taking the town by storm" by day with their business, and chilling with cards and drinking by night. It was the dorm nights they never had together all the sudden, and they loved it. Luke knew deep down they would have to get out of their deep debt soon in order to keep on living, but he wouldn't think about it then. They'd cross that bridge when it came time!

But it never came time, because soon, all of that wouldn't matter.

Surviving would matter.


	2. Carlos and Sarah - Part 1: Before

Carlos was always a careful man.

It didn't matter what the circumstance was. He was always the more cautious one than the people around him. His hands were steady, his head was on straight; all in all, he was prepared for anything - or so he thought.

He had always flourished in school, turning to math or science for his answers. He knew if there was anything in the world he could trust, it was cold, hard fact. That was what he needed. Maintaining straight A's throughout his education was easy to say the least; but if good grades were child's play, then keeping a social life was extremely laborious.

He had always focused on his learning and only that - sure, he had a few close friends to eat lunch with or talk to when he needed it. But as far as expanding his connections or even love, he was a lost cause. He didn't see the need for it; he was too busy planning out his career. But that all changed in college.

Being an extremely valued honor roll student, he got into an esteemed medical college and started his course. He would spend 9 years getting his doctor's degree, but his future in the school wasn't exactly as he saw it before.

There was a shy girl in his classes - a simple, bright eyed maiden with long brown hair to outline her caramel face, and glasses that framed her dark chocolate eyes. As much as he wanted to focus on his work and notes, his eyes would always travel on back to her smooth features and inquiring gaze on the teacher. And at first, it was only glances - until he worked up the nerve to talk to her.

Her name was Adrianna, and she too was going to be a doctor - she had had a similar past, what with the honor roll status and simple life of grades and learning. It seemed that the two had made an exception in their routines for each other - after Carlos made that first move, they were together often. Studying together, writing notes together, doing labs together... yes, it was all school-related. How else would they adjust to their new bond?

Their new lives outside of schooling was overwhelming for them, but Carlos adjusted quickly when he started developing feelings he had never felt before. He grew more attached to Adrianna by the day, and there was a dance coming up. He had never commit to such frivolous activities in high school, but he kept thinking that this might be his chance at love.

He tried to make it as special as he could, so he couldn't just ask her to the dance. Instead, he used that large brain of his and made a trail of clues he knew she could follow. The first was a riddle on a piece of paper stuffed in her textbook -

"Ice cold but not freezing,

well-sized but not normal.

Stores but doesn't keep it forever,

find your next hint in formal."

Adrianna would go to her dorm that night and look in her mini fridge to find a piece of white, intricately decorated cake sitting inside it. When she took a bite of it, she was surprised to find a little piece of plastic with the words engraved - "Go to the dance? -C" And that was the start of their relationship.

They shared their first kiss that night at the dance. It was nearly an accident - Adrianna's bracelet slipped off her wrist, and when they both went to pick it up, they found their faces closer to each other than ever.

And Carlos closed the gap.

After that, they were inseparable. They were always together, and many saw them as the perfect 'geek' couple. So when Adrianna got a traveling-abroad offer the last year of their education, Carlos was not the only one heartbroken. But they promised to write often, and that they did - phone calls, letters, video chat, email; whatever source of contact was available. And when they finally reunited in the end for graduation, they were even closer than before.

After the big ceremony, Carlos even grandly proposed to her, to which she agreed eagerly. They married in the Caribbean, and he became the happiest man alive.

He could see his future clearly - his wife, beautiful kids, his flourishing career- everything was coming together perfectly, especially when Adrianna announced her pregnancy. Sarah was born a perfectly happy, healthy child. Everything was falling into place.

Until that one fateful day in the hospital.

Normally at this time in their careers, Carlos and Adrianna would work full shifts in the hospital and have a nanny for little 3-year-old Sarah at home. This time, however, the nanny was sick and had to stay home, so Sarah was in the daycare in the building. But Sarah kept escaping, wanting to see her mommy and daddy at work. She was very attached to her family, and knowing they were in the building gave her enough determination to run and find them.

This day was not an easy one for Adrianna. She was working so hard, running back and forth everywhere, caring for her overflow of patients. However, her speedy care was halted when a forty-year-old woman who was her patient had a seizure. The nearby nurse was trying to help, but she didn't quite know what to do. Besides, the lady wouldn't have made it. Major brain damage was caused in the episode. But the patient's husband was not convinced by this at all, and took his anger out on the doctor.

"You could've saved her!" He screamed, veins prominent in his neck, right into her face. "You could've given her a sedative and made it alright!"

The man didn't understand. Adrianna desperately tried to explain to the man what had happened, but he was having none of it. Suddenly, he stood stock-still, like he had finally broken.

Then he pulled out a gun and shot her in the chest.

No one had taken the man through security; he had rode on a helicopter with his wife to the emergency room. No one would've guessed he had a firearm on him.

Adrianna's limp body fell onto the gurney behind her. Carlos heard a scream somewhere far away, and only realized that it was his own later on. He lifted her onto the bed quickly, hot tears running down his face, as he tried to stop the bleeding and make her vital signs stable. But she was gone within a minute.

He ignored the police scuffling with the murderer. He only stared down at his wife's still face, blood she had coughed up running down the side of her cheek. He silently cried in horror, his stained hands shaking in grief.

And suddenly, he saw the terror-stricken face of his little daughter standing behind the scenes.

He wanted to immediately go to her, but had to find a towel to wipe his hands clean from Adrianna's fleeting life before he threw up or broke down in emotional agony. And so the teary-eyed toddler, who barely understood anything except for the blood and the anguish in her father's face, was directed back to the daycare, with nurses fawning over her and trying to distract her.

* * *

This obviously affected Sarah in the long run. This sort of traumatizing event doesn't just go unnoticed in one's life. But while she didn't remember the exact details of that day, she knew that her mother was murdered and that people with guns run around in the streets all the time. She grew to be a home body, having only a few close friends and liking to stay at her house and read a book. She was still very attached to her father, and relied on him heavily. She blocked out the violence around her in the cruel world, for she wanted to be happy, and so happy she would be.

And Carlos contributed to this. He realized it was wrong after the world was turned upside down, but at the time it seemed the best way to keep his precious daughter healthy.

For a while, all he could see in Sarah's face was his beloved wife. But eventually, he saw what mattered most in his life - his family. And family needs to be protected. So yes, he bought her books, thrusted her into school, and gave her healthy food to eat every day. She was limited in her freedom of leaving the house and not having an adult with her as she got older, and she never watched the news. She always watched PG or lower movies, and read the same rating of books.

Sarah was absolutely fine with this life. She appreciated the shelter she was given. She needed stability and that was what she got. She excelled in school, much like her parents, which was also partially from her study helper/father. But she especially loved reading. When she was stressed or sad or scared, she would just get lost in a book and enjoy the stories of other happy people that always ended well.

She loved to read so much, she decided to start to write as well. She entered many young author competitions. And though it was fun to get some recognition and compete, she mainly loved to find a great book and burrow into a comfortable place to travel to another world.

The few friends she had were a close-knit bunch; there were only four of them in total. There was a mutual understanding about them; they all loved to read and had trouble making new friends. So they sat in the very corner of their lunchroom, and read books and ate together. The group came to be known as the Bookworms. But they didn't mind the labels; they were grateful for the small connections they had and kept to themselves.

As she got older, it was tough for Sarah to get used to puberty. Her father, her only guardian, knew nothing about shopping for the right-size bra, washing your face to avoid acne, and putting on makeup. He knew a bit about menstruating, but from a scientific standpoint only. Plus, she was terrified of blood, and to have it coming out of a foreign body part was overwhelming to say the least. He only knew how the cycles worked and the anatomy - he didn't know how to go about comforting her, since he had no earthly clue what it was really like. This role had to be done from her grandmother, who lived on the other side of the USA, over the telephone.

But what was even worse for the girl was soon to come. She would have to deal with losing everything her life was, and with limited explanation from her father about the sudden change.

Carlos was always a careful man. He had been surprised once in his life; but he was ready for anything else life threw at him.

Except for the apocalypse.

**(A/N: Hey guys! I got three reviews last time, and believe me - I was psyched! I'm so glad that you guys liked my story and left feedback! In response to "A Writer With Mixed Interests" - Thanks for the tip! Is this paragraph spacing better? If it is, I will go back and edit the last chapter. **

**Sorry if you got two emails saying I updated the story - I had a little trouble with posting. But anyways, next up will be Rebecca and Alvin's life before the apocalypse. I was also wondering as I wrote this - is anyone interested in Carver's backstory? I can do his as well if you would like. Thanks again!)**


End file.
